Max HeyraudWith a shared sense of belonging, RIOT co-founder JRR reflects on Limerick’s unmistakable rave identity in a new column spotlighting Ireland’s most passionate promoters.
Having been an attendee and DJ in the scene for over 6 years now, Limerick has always had a vibrant and passionate approach to dance music. Many DJs and promoters have staked their first claim here, due to one of the, if not the strongest, student nightlife scenes Ireland has to offer. Personally, it is where I fell in love with techno and its community, something I’m sure countless others can agree on.
RIOT, to us, was always about community and a sense of belonging. Raving is a worldwide community that is clannish in its nature, where everyone gets along in the name of one thing: dancing. This was crucial to us in our ideology and branding. To us, the name RIOT isn’t just about being aggressive, sharp and violent; it is about giving a voice to those who are silenced, marginalised, and giving them a place to be themselves and truly call home. That is of the utmost importance to us. We are all one big family on the dance floor.
Despite its history in the Irish dance music scene and some great parties that have been thrown in Limerick, we are seeing a decline nowadays in the amount of smaller, tight-knit rave communities and platforms for people to express themselves that were once connected with the city. For us, RIOT had to carry that torch into the future, as a place anyone from any background could come to our parties, let loose and feel a part of something bigger. We had that growing up here, so it was time for us to do our due diligence.
Uniqueness has always been at the forefront of Limerick’s image in the dance music scene. Because of the woven history of years gone by, people expect a good party in Limerick. There is an unmistakable passion on any and every dance floor curated in Limerick. It’s clear to see why creatives like us, and those before us, hold the parties here in extreme regard. Undoubtedly, we were inspired by those who came before us, parties like DIE, Touch of Techno and Kemmy Gaff are examples of extremely successful platforms and collectives who curated a variety of great nights across all genres and went on to further success in Ireland and abroad.
However, running parties in Limerick is not without struggle. With the cost of everything increasing as we know all too well, promotion is at a critical point in Limerick. With limited venue selection and the student-centric scene here, we have a mountainous task on our hands to get people to spend the €15 on a ticket, take a gamble, and come and join our growing community. We are lucky in the way that from the minute we go, our weekend and student shows alike have been met with great support. Once people do take that gamble, and we know it can be a gamble, we would hope that they realise that we are building something truly special here. We put a lot of hard work into these parties, but seeing people from all walks of life come to the RIOT, let their hair down and go to a happier place makes everything so worth it.
Another point I’d like to make that I don’t see often in the scene between DJs and Promoters is that it can be a very fatiguing industry to work in. Here at RIOT, we all have full-time jobs, so running nights, travelling, promoting, and everything else that comes with running a collective can be hard work; there’s no denying that. Originally, we set out doing an event every month for over a year, soon learning this was just simply not sustainable. It can feel like sometimes you are promoting to an empty room, but these are the times you must not quit; you have to be willing to do the work no one sees to succeed, and our payment for that comes in the form of the constant, unwavering support we have seen from every RIOTer we share the dancefloor with.
With that being said, we still wouldn’t change it for the world. Constantly meeting new people, working with insanely talented creatives in a collaborative manner has been a joy for us. No one thinks of all the cogs that truly go into an event, from artists to agents, graphic designers and light techs. Everyone plays their part, and when the full puzzle comes together, there is nothing more satisfying. We’ve made some lifelong friends in just our short journey so far, and we can’t wait to keep doing so.
Looking to the future for RIOT in 2026 and beyond – we reckon it’s time to change up the formula a bit. In terms of events, it’s time to choose quality over quantity. We have built up a community that will follow us into every RIOT, across every genre; that is clear. We want to start looking at opening up our genre variety, with some more “lighter” parties across the worlds of trance, bounce and who knows what else. After all, Riot is for the people. Trust us to organise a good party, all you need is yourself and a willingness to enjoy yourself, and we will provide the good memories and tunes to dance to. For the people.
